Tweet
DINK LAWYER SAYS EVIDENCE BEING WITHHELD
Fethiye Cetin
asbarez
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
ISTANBUL--Five years after the assassination of journalist Hrant Dink,
evidence related to the real perpetrators of the crime is still being
covered up, the Dink family's lawyer, Fethiye Cetin, who has been
the chief attorney in the case, said.
"Long ago, in 2008, we demanded the records of phone calls made in
the vicinity of the assassination on the day of the murder. We were
only able to have those records in court recently, a week before
the case is going to be closed. Moreover, police provided misleading
information to the court about the phone records," Cetin told Today's
Zaman following the 24th hearing of the trial, which took place on
Monday at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court.
The late editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Dink
was shot dead by an ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of
his newspaper in broad daylight in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The
investigation into his murder stalled as the suspected perpetrator
and his accomplices were put on trial, but those who masterminded
the plot to kill him have yet to be exposed and punished.
Cetin said that contrary to the police investigation, which found no
phone conversations among the suspects on the day of the murder, the
Dink family attorneys found with their limited resources at least five
cell phone numbers belonging to people who were present at the crime
scene on the day of the murder that were directly connected to Mustafa
Ozturk and Sahil Hacısalihoglu, two suspects in the investigation.
The Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) told the court that 6,235
phone conversations took place in the vicinity at the time of the
murder and that 9,300 people were carrying cell phones in the area. It
also said their records showed no link to any of the cell phones.
"TIB's statement is not true," Cetin said, adding that one of the
numbers assigned to a cell phone present in the area at the time of
the murder was used in 19 calls to suspect Mustafa Ozturk between the
dates Oct. 22, 2005 - about two years prior to the murder - and Jan.
She accused the Istanbul Police Department of misleading judicial
institutions, obscuring evidence and attempting to keep the truth
from coming out.
Asked about what she expects out of the court's judgment next week when
it is likely to end the case, Cetin said they demand life sentences
with no possibility of parole for the instigators of the murder.
"It is up to the court to rule. The court is willing to reach a
judgment soon because of a possibility of discharge since the suspects
have been on trial for almost five years now," she said.
According to the Dink family's lawyers, bureaucracy and institutions
resist solving the murder in its entirety because there is a lack of
political will to move the investigation along.
After the finalization of the case by the Istanbul 14th High Criminal
Court, the Dink case is supposed to go to the Supreme Court of Appeals.
"The Istanbul court demanded the prosecution examine the TIB records
more thoroughly. If there is new evidence, the case could be reopened
with an additional indictment," Cetin said, Today's Zaman reported.
Fethiye Cetin
asbarez
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
ISTANBUL--Five years after the assassination of journalist Hrant Dink,
evidence related to the real perpetrators of the crime is still being
covered up, the Dink family's lawyer, Fethiye Cetin, who has been
the chief attorney in the case, said.
"Long ago, in 2008, we demanded the records of phone calls made in
the vicinity of the assassination on the day of the murder. We were
only able to have those records in court recently, a week before
the case is going to be closed. Moreover, police provided misleading
information to the court about the phone records," Cetin told Today's
Zaman following the 24th hearing of the trial, which took place on
Monday at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court.
The late editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Dink
was shot dead by an ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of
his newspaper in broad daylight in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The
investigation into his murder stalled as the suspected perpetrator
and his accomplices were put on trial, but those who masterminded
the plot to kill him have yet to be exposed and punished.
Cetin said that contrary to the police investigation, which found no
phone conversations among the suspects on the day of the murder, the
Dink family attorneys found with their limited resources at least five
cell phone numbers belonging to people who were present at the crime
scene on the day of the murder that were directly connected to Mustafa
Ozturk and Sahil Hacısalihoglu, two suspects in the investigation.
The Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) told the court that 6,235
phone conversations took place in the vicinity at the time of the
murder and that 9,300 people were carrying cell phones in the area. It
also said their records showed no link to any of the cell phones.
"TIB's statement is not true," Cetin said, adding that one of the
numbers assigned to a cell phone present in the area at the time of
the murder was used in 19 calls to suspect Mustafa Ozturk between the
dates Oct. 22, 2005 - about two years prior to the murder - and Jan.
She accused the Istanbul Police Department of misleading judicial
institutions, obscuring evidence and attempting to keep the truth
from coming out.
Asked about what she expects out of the court's judgment next week when
it is likely to end the case, Cetin said they demand life sentences
with no possibility of parole for the instigators of the murder.
"It is up to the court to rule. The court is willing to reach a
judgment soon because of a possibility of discharge since the suspects
have been on trial for almost five years now," she said.
According to the Dink family's lawyers, bureaucracy and institutions
resist solving the murder in its entirety because there is a lack of
political will to move the investigation along.
After the finalization of the case by the Istanbul 14th High Criminal
Court, the Dink case is supposed to go to the Supreme Court of Appeals.
"The Istanbul court demanded the prosecution examine the TIB records
more thoroughly. If there is new evidence, the case could be reopened
with an additional indictment," Cetin said, Today's Zaman reported.